Judge Allows Casino to Keep Liquor License : Courts: The ruling comes despite a history of many arrests and a two-year undercover investigation into political corruption.

A judge has ruled that the Huntington Park Casino can continue serving liquor despite allegations that the club creates law enforcement problems.

The decision ended efforts by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to revoke the club’s liquor license. Police had reported dozens of arrests at the casino for incidents ranging from drug sales to fighting and public drunkenness.

But after a city police official and a city councilman testified on behalf of the casino, Administrative Judge Samuel Reyes ruled that the club can continue to serve alcohol. The judge concluded that the casino is “not viewed as a center of criminal activities or law enforcement problems.”

Reyes issued his ruling in April. The casino announced the decision earlier this month, after the deadline for filing appeals had passed.

Police Chief Frank E. Sullivan, who was a captain at the time of the hearing in March, told the judge that the department spends “a relatively small percentage” of its resources policing the club. He said the casino is not one of the city’s “hot spots” and that he would rather assign personnel “to patrolling streets where drive-by shootings occur, to investigating homicides and aggravated assaults, and to stopping rampant drug trades at the local recreation park.”

Councilman Thomas E. Jackson also testified in support of the casino. He acknowledged that the club is in a bad neighborhood, but said that “many upstanding citizens and families go there.” He also told the judge that he visited the casino frequently and does not consider it a “den of iniquity.”

ABC attorney David B. Wainstein said it is the first time he can recall that a police official testified in favor of allowing a drinking establishment with a history of law-enforcement problems to continue serving alcohol.

He said Sullivan and Jackson acknowledged during testimony that they are friends of casino owner Curtis Fresch. “This hardly makes them the most unbiased witnesses,” he pointed out in his written arguments to the administrative judge. Sullivan and Jackson could not be reached for comment.

Wainstein said the agency did not appeal the judge’s decision, although “we still have no doubt the club causes problems. It’s just one of several cases we have. We can’t afford to retry it.”

The department is investigating other possible violations at the casino, Wainstein said. He declined to elaborate.

County sheriff’s detectives observed potential alcohol violations in 1990 and 1991 during an investigation into allegations of political corruption and other crimes at the casino, Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Budds said.

“We saw the most outrageous violations there you can imagine,” said Budds, who contacted the ABC after spending several months undercover at the casino. “When you start having gang fights and several hundred calls for service over a year’s time, that becomes more than just a nuisance.”

Budds said detectives did not intervene because the office does not have jurisdiction over liquor license violations. The alcohol bureau began its license revocation process in February after one of its undercover agents made several drug purchases at the club, Wainstein said.

Attorneys for the casino argued that Fresch, the club’s owner, was not responsible for any illegal activity because casino management practices did not encourage it. They pointed out that Fresch increased security after a well-publicized gang brawl in October, 1989, that resulted in 11 arrests. Management also established a dress code to discourage gang members from hanging out there and discontinued live rap music, attorneys said.

Police reports compiled by the ABC and presented to Judge Reyes showed, however, that unlawful activity continued throughout 1990, “requiring several calls, investigations, arrests or patrols” per month.

The administrative judge’s decision drew praise from other city officials.

City Manager Donald Jeffers said the Police Department “hasn’t had many problems lately there, at least none that have come to my attention.”

Mayor Raul Perez also said he is pleased. “It was an overblown situation,” he said. “They made a change in the type of people they attracted, and everything calmed down. We wouldn’t want to lose them.”

The casino employs more than 100 Huntington Park residents, and generates about $300,000 a year in tax revenue for the city.

The outcome of the sheriff’s investigation is uncertain.

In April, 1991, sheriff’s detectives seized casino records, and the records of current and former City Council members in connection with an investigation of alleged profit skimming, kickbacks and other improprieties.

Councilman Jackson was among several city officials targeted in the investigation. He and other officials have denied any wrongdoing, and no charges have been filed. Casino officials have also denied any wrongdoing.

The district attorney’s office has not decided whether to file charges, officials said.